Long,lonely walk

It was a nightmare, the 27-year-old recalls of the qualifying event,at the Race Walking World Cup in Saransk,Russia,in which 38 of the 100 participants simply failed to even make it to the finish line. The word walk is a deceptive one; it surely isnt the same one from walk in the park as the adage goes. With competitors disallowed from lifting both their feet from the ground at the same time,maintaining the near 13 miles per hour speed in competition becomes a gruelling task.

While the shorter,20 km race walk is challenging enough,the 50 km scythes through participants.

Up until around the 30 km mark,most participants can manage. After that the real race starts, says Rana. So what exactly were the difficulties at Saransk,and in racewalking in general? He sighs,then begins.

It wasnt very hot,only around 30 degrees,but around me people were vomiting and collapsing. Unless you have been in that situation,you cant understand it. Your legs are so tired but they keep moving out of habit. Your shoes are unbearably heavy because they are full of sweat but you go on and on. By the time you arrive at the final stretch of 10 km,walkers will be lying if they say they did not think of quitting multiple times, he says.

For one,they are tired. Secondly,racewalkers such as Rana are a good half-hour behind the race leaders. Quitting would be the smart thing to do out there. But others,like me that day,function on will power.

Despite falling twice,he limped past the line four hours,two minutes and 13 seconds after he set off,a new national record.

Good enough to meet the B standard 4:09:00 for London. Since his days on the Gorkha Rifles in the Indian army,Rana has come walking a long way. Literally and figuratively.

Back in his village Nawalparashi,near Kathmandu,Nepal,Rana hadnt even heard of the Olympics,let alone the sport of racewalking. Well after trying his hands at the 400 metres at the local battalions sports meet,Ranas feet stumbled upon the world of walking.

Rapid strides

I was so crazy,I would be practicing at 1 am in the night. Some would just laugh,the others awake at that time would begin panicking on seeing a heavily perspiring man doing laps on the road, says Rana,currently a subedar in the Army.

Rana improved dramatically and by virtue of medalling consistently in national competitions,entered the national camp in 2008. There the coach suggested I shift to the 50 km race because of my stamina, he says. The coach was right,for Rana claimed the national record in his first attempt.

From there on all the way to Saransk,Russia,the records have only been bettered by the same man. I can possibly set even faster times,but there are such few international races in the 50 km category, Rana claims,before illustrating it: In the last four years,Ive competed in just four international races.

Tough to practice

The other big drawback of being a racewalker is the sheer amount of time it takes to complete a race,and the enormous amount of effort put leading up to the event.

Unless you want your body to break down completely,you cant even think of competing for at least 50 days after a race, Rana said.

It makes me a bit jealous of the other athletes. I often tell the 100m sprinters that even if they are really slow,the event gets over in 11 seconds. On the other hand,if I am really slow,I will be on the road for well over four hours and wont know how Ive done until I finish.

He isnt speak hypothetically. Last year in Dublin,he missed the Olympic qualification by 60 seconds,after having clocked a timing of 4 hours,10 minutes.

But has race-walking changed the life of his community back home,just the way other sports have helped uplift society for many an Indian athlete over the years?

My sport and the Olympics doesnt mean anything to my family. The next month is the rice growing season,so I doubt they will even watch me in London, he says.

So why indeed does Rana nearly 30 minutes off the record and with no well wishers in his family want to finish this endurance stretching race in London?

My unit says that I bring honour to them. They tell me I am the best. The least I can do is finish the race.